Tennessee-based UP Development is planning a mixed-use townhome community, with a self-storage facility and Wawa fuel station, along Clermont’s high-growth State Road 50 corridor in Clermont.
Located on 45.4 acres at the southwest intersection of SR 50 and Emil Jahna Road in Clermont, UP Development is looking to develop 22 4-unit buildings and 26 6-unit buildings — a total of up to 244 residential units — as part of a mixed-use PUD set to contain a 100,000-square-foot self-storage facility, a Wawa, four commercial lots and three drive-up self-storage buildings.
The proposed Wawa and four other commercial lots will front SR 50 while three of the 4-unit buildings, a total of 12 units, will be developed south of a planned extension of Hooks Street.
UP Development Principal Scott Fish said amenities for the fee-simple townhome development, dubbed Clermont Hills, will include a pool and cabana in the center of the community.
With a portion of the property bordering an unnamed lake to the south, UP Development Principal Scott Fish said the company hopes to feature it as an additional amenity.
“We’re taking into consideration some of the city planner’s suggestions for increased amenities,” he said. “We plan on having access to the lake; we own part of the lake behind us and want to complete the walking and jogging trail around the lake.”
According to Fish, UP Development is providing land to Lake County and the City of Clermont to extend Hooks Street, a 2.5-mile road currently stretching east-west from Hancock Road to Lakeshore Drive along Lake Minnehaha.
The extension would lengthen Hooks Street eastward — right below the Clermont Hills site and north of Mattamy Homes’ Waterbrooke community — to Hartle Road, also known as County Road 455.
Fish said UP Development owns land on both sides of the extension and noted that residents will be able to access the lake through a pathway underneath Hooks Street.
“We want to have golf cart, bicycle and pedestrian connectivity to the Mattamy Homes community behind us,” Fish said. “We’ll enhance that lake feature, we’re going to light it, and we’re going to have connectivity from the development to that amenity. It’s a 40-acre lake and has a lot of open space that we need to maximize for residents of both communities.”
Current plans for Clermont Hills indicate the community will have two access points: one from Emil Jahna Road to the east and another from Hooks Street once extended.
UP Development has owned the land for Clermont Hills since 2016, and Fish said he has been “waiting for Clermont to grow around it” before deciding to move forward with plans for a townhome community.
“I think there’s a need now for some kind of bundled product,” he said. “This is a townhome project, which is a lot better than the three-story walk-up traditional apartments. The city has some really good design criteria laid out for this.”
UP Development is in the final design stages and is seeking permit approval with the City of Clermont. Once permits are approved, Fish said, the developer will begin horizontal construction.
Earlier this month, the Lake County Planning & Zoning Board voted unanimously to advance consideration of a multifamily apartment complex proposed less than a mile east of the proposed Clermont Hills townhome site.
Located near the northwest intersection of County Road 455 and SR 50 in unincorporated Clermont, just outside city limits, Hartle Hills Apartments is planned as a 212-unit apartment community set to rise on 17.89 acres.
According to the project’s concept plan, dwelling units for Hartle Hills will be spread across 10 separate two- or three-story buildings. The community is set to be developed by Orlando-based Skorman Development.
Amenities planned for the project include a clubhouse, pool, tot lot, pickleball court, dog park, yoga lawn, butterfly garden, and community garden.
The community will also have convenient access to the nearby South Lake Trail, providing a 43-mile greenway corridor and recreational trail for residents to walk, run or bike across the southern portion of Lake County.
South of SR 50 from Hartle Hills, less than a mile east of the Clermont Hills townhome site, Orlando-based TSG Development Inc. — a business entity linked to JLL brokers Wilson McDowell and Matt Sullivan — recently received Clermont City Council approval to develop Phase 3 of the Perimeter Park West industrial park.
Set at the end of the proposed Hooks Street extension, the third phase will add three new commercial warehouse buildings to a 12-acre parcel approximately a quarter-mile south of State Road 50 on Hartle Road.
Have a tip about Central Florida development? Contact me at jwilkins@orlandosentinel.com or 407-754-4980. Follow GrowthSpotter on Facebook and LinkedIn.
